The disclosure of Japanese Patent Application No. HEI 11-142246 filed on May 21, 1999 including the specification, drawings and abstract is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to passenger-side airbag apparatus activation control system and, more particularly, to a system for controlling the activation of a passenger-side airbag apparatus capable of deploying an airbag forward of a passenger seat on which a child restraint seat is set.
2. Description of the Related Art
In known passenger-side airbag apparatus activation control systems, a switch mechanism is incorporated into an ISO-FIX (International Standard-compliant) anchor device provided in a passenger seat, and an ISO-FIX (International Standard-compliant) child restraint seat (CRS) is set on the passenger seat. An example of such systems is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,690,356.
In the passenger-side airbag apparatus activation control system, as shown in FIG. 10, ISO-FIX anchors 102 each incorporating a switch mechanism 100 is disposed within a passenger seat 104. When an ISO-FIX CRS 106 is attached to the passenger seat 104, a passenger-side airbag apparatus activation circuit is automatically interrupted or turned off by the switch mechanisms 100. In this passenger-side airbag apparatus activation control system, when the ISO-FIX CRS 106 is detached from the ISO-FIX anchors 102, the passenger-side airbag apparatus activation circuit automatically returns to a conductive state.
In the passenger-side airbag apparatus activation control system, however, if an International Standard-uncompliant CRS, that is, a CRS not compliant with the International Standards, is attached to the passenger seat 104, the passenger-side airbag apparatus activation circuit is not interrupted. Therefore, it is necessary to provide a switch mechanism for interrupting the passenger-side airbag apparatus activation circuit in, for example, an instrument panel or the like, so that an occupant can operate the switch mechanism to turn off the passenger-side airbag apparatus activation circuit. Therefore, the passenger-side airbag apparatus activation control system becomes complicated.
Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide a passenger-side airbag apparatus activation control system capable of interrupting a passenger-side airbag apparatus activating circuit even when an International Standard-uncompliant CRS is attached, while eliminating the need to add a further switch mechanism.
In accordance with the invention, a system for controlling an activation of a passenger-side airbag apparatus includes a CRS switch mechanism that automatically interrupts and recovers a passenger-side airbag apparatus activating circuit upon attachment of an International Standard-compliant CRS to and detachment of the International Standard-compliant CRS from an International Standard-compliant anchor device disposed in a passenger seat, and a manual operation means for allowing the CRS switch mechanism to be manually switched between an on state and an off state.
Therefore, when the ISO-FIX CRS is attached to the ISO-FIX anchor device, the CRS switch mechanism automatically interrupts the passenger-side airbag apparatus activating circuit to prohibit the passenger-side airbag apparatus from being activated. When the ISO-FIX CRS is detached from the ISO-FIX anchor device, the CRS switch mechanism automatically recovers the passenger-side airbag apparatus activating circuit so that the passenger-side airbag apparatus becomes able to be activated. Furthermore, since the CRS switch mechanism can be switched between the on state and the off state by switching the manual operation means on and off, the system is able to interrupt the passenger-side airbag apparatus activating circuit even when an International Standard-uncompliant CRS is attached to the passenger seat, without a need to add a further switch mechanism.
The above-described system may further include a cancel mechanism that removes an interrupted state of the passenger-side airbag apparatus activating circuit established by the manual operation means, when the ISO-FIX CRS is attached to the ISO-FIX anchor device after the CRS switch mechanism has been caused to interrupt the passenger-side airbag apparatus activating circuit by the manual operation means.
Therefore, when the ISO-FIX CRS is attached to the ISO-FIX anchor device after the passenger-side airbag apparatus activating circuit has been interrupted by switching the CRS switch mechanism through the manual operation means, the interrupted state of the passenger-side airbag apparatus activating circuit established by the manual operation means is removed, that is, the manual operation means is switched to a side for recovering the passenger-side airbag apparatus activating circuit. Hence, the CRS switch mechanism can be automatically switched to the side for recovering the passenger-side airbag apparatus activating circuit by attaching the ISO-FIX CRS.
The above-described system may further include a warning means for outputting a warning when only one of a pair of manual operation means corresponding to a pair of ISO-FIX anchor devices is off.
Therefore, when only one of the pair of manual operation means corresponding to the pair of ISO-FIX anchor devices is off, a warning is produced by the warning means. Hence, if the manual operation of the manual operation means corresponding to the pair of ISO-FIX anchor devices is incomplete when an International Standard-uncompliant CRS is attached to the passenger seat or if the attachment of the ISO-FIX CRS is incomplete, it is possible to make an occupant realize such an incomplete state.
Furthermore, the above-described system may further include a cooperation means for causing a first one of a pair of manual operation means to cooperate with a second one of the pair of manual operation means when the second one of the pair of manual operation means is operated.
Therefore, when the second manual operation means is operated, the first manual operation means is switched together with the second manual operation means. Therefore, it becomes possible to prevent a user""s error of leaving one of the manual operation means unoperated and to omit some of the component parts of the manual operation means.